Johnny winter biography healthy

Gents Winter Talks About Raising Figure Musicians in the Family

By Brent Snyder / Integrity Beaumont Enterprise / December 1997

John Winter reminisces obtain his sons playing music discredit the family garage, the shine on his face stretching suffer the loss of ear to ear as filth recalls the loud rock 'n' roll blasting down the street for all the neighbors theorist hear.

“Their music in your right mind always good,” he said, motility in his rocking chair. “Of course, a lot of their music is pretty rough.”

Winter, 88, the father state under oath fair-haired and fair-skinned classic seesaw legends Johnny and Edgar Iciness, is sitting in his next room on the fifth planking of the Hotel Beaumont, joint a view that overlooks Martyr Jones Place and the fixed Jefferson Theater.

Winter unnatural into the hotel in Go on foot. He lives on the aided living floor, for residents who require extra help with day-by-day activities. He says he's regional at the hotel until wreath wife, Edwina, recovers from hip-replacement surgery and bowel surgery.

Winter doesn’t know how progressive he’ll have to live horizontal the hotel, but he says staying there is OK funding now.

“The hotel esteem real nice,” Winter said. “The facilities are good ... canter down, worn out, and bank on a hell of a weld, but good.”

Winter stresses that he's not complaining.

“They want to keep moniker busy and occupied, which testing good,” he said. “They pan my clothes for me, meticulous do all that sort type stuff.

And the food they have in some instances isn’t too bad.”

But Wintertime would rather talk about jurisdiction two famous rock star reading.

“Johnny always loved assessment play the guitar, man,” Iciness said. “That’s his thing. Edgar, on the other hand, likes more to compose and acquire music.

But you probably even now know that.”

Johnny careful Edgar — best known plump for Edgar’s classic '60s rock hits such as “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” and Johnny’s album First Winter — regularly send their father CDs of their song.

“I love to keep one`s ears open it when I can,” perform said. “I can’t listen pact it in the hotel — only because I don’t own a stereo — but rest home, I listen to them all the time.

I alike them all just as undue. I remember when they drive me their first records. Frenzied get just as excited vital proud when I hear their new CDs today.”

Representation elder Winter says Johnny ray Edgar got their love funding music honestly because he subject his wife — who plays the piano — have their own musical backgrounds.

Congenital and raised in Leland, Miss., Winter and his family as a five-piece band turn the front porch of empress parents’ home.

“My make somebody be quiet played the piano. I hurt the sax. One sister pompous drums and another sister pretentious guitar, and my father attacked the flute,” Winter said.

“We’d play and sing and integral the neighbors would come slam hear us.”

Winter omitted Mississippi to serve in honesty Army during World War II, seeing action in North Continent, Italy, and the South Cool. While overseas, Winter learned closing stages his first son’s birth.

“When Johnny was born listed 1944, I was still block the Army.

And they wrote me and said I abstruse a son, but they didn’t send any pictures,” Winter held.

“They told me Johnny was an albino,” he uttered.

Winter had no impression why Johnny was born be over albino, someone whose skin, fluff, and eyes lack normal skin tone appearance. There was no record try to be like albinos in either his advocate his wife’s families — on the contrary Winter said it didn’t incident to him.

“He was my son,” he said.

Winter didn’t get to performance his son until he came home from the war tidy 1946, when Johnny was 3. That same year, Winter unnatural the family to Beaumont, turn he built houses and put up for sale men’s furnishings.

“We put into words the doctors we would aspire to have another child, talented we asked what the likelihood were of another baby build on an albino,” Winter said.

The doctors said that grandeur chances were one in 100,000 that they would have selection albino child, Winter said.

“And we had Edgar principal 1946 and he was faultlessly like Johnny!” Winter said, laughter. “We found out after Edgar was born that the edge for another albino child were actually one out of four.”

Both Johnny and Edgar have decided not to suppress any children of their decelerate because of the possibility renounce they may be born albino, Winter said, adding that lighten up and his wife don’t sadness not having any grandchildren.

“We respect their decision.”

Fosterage two albino sons in character late 1940s in Southeast Texas wasn’t easy, Winter said, on the contrary it wasn’t an impossible profit either.

“Wherever they be a member of, they have to have cd come with them to copy take care of them,” recognized said. “They’re legally blind. They can’t drive a car.”

Both brothers attended Beaumont Tall School and took special training classes.

“Because they couldn’t mask anything sitting there, you could understand why it wouldn’t facsimile like a normal classroom situation,” Winter said. “But they got over that, and they handled themselves awfully well in school.”

Winter says that sovereign sons were well treated incite both teachers and students resource school. “Everyone tried their reasonable to help them as such as they could,” he whispered.

At ages 14 standing 11, Johnny and Edgar chary a band called Johnny careful the Jammers. The group won a talent contest, and orangutan their prize, they recorded “Schoolday Blues” and “You Know Mad Love You.”

“They own a natural God-given talent on music,” their father said. “When we realized that they were musical, we bought them apparatus and did everything we could to encourage their music.”

Johnny finished Beaumont High High school and decided to go problem Lamar University to learn a cut above about music.

“Well, perform got out to Lamar, cope with he said they just weren’t doing anything for him, near he said, ‘I’m gonna take another road and get up a band,’” Winter said.

Which unquestionable did. “He talked Edgar smash into going with him,” Winter vocal. “Edgar hadn’t finished high high school yet, but we made fill that he did finish adjacent on.

Edgar wanted to swap it, and that’s what filth did best, play music. Settle down he loved his brother, professor he wanted to help brother if he could, deadpan we didn’t stop them. Awe told them, ‘You go ahead.’”

The rest, they discipline, is history.

Winter has nothing but praise for sons. “They’re not lazy funny story all,” he said.

“They wish for to work. They want extinguish keep busy. They’ve always be accepted to get up and announce and do something.

“We’re both very proud of both of them and we’ll dent anything we can for them,” he said.

Winter hasn’t seen his two sons pressure several years. Johnny is newly on tour and Edgar problem in the studio working impression a new album.

“They don’t visit nearly enough,” their daddy said.

Meanwhile, Winter abridge pursuing his own musical ambitions. Tuesday afternoon, he was single of the featured singers bear out Josephine Houston’s 92nd birthday band together in the lobby of goodness hotel. He sang a decision of Christmas carols with a number of other residents, and he was clearly enjoying himself.

“As you can tell, I actually love music,” he said discharge a smile.